SA Election 2022: Labor pledges public housing ‘building blitz’

The Treasurer has rubbished Labor’s plans to blitz SA’s public housing system – but the Premier’s been boasting the Liberals have outspent them.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas. Photo: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

Labor is promising to build and upgrade hundreds of homes if elected next weekend as the key plank of its public housing policy.

The party has announced a “building blitz” that would see 400 new homes built.

Up to 250 of them would be in Adelaide with the remainder in regional areas including Mt Gambier, Murray Bridge, Whyalla, Strathalbyn and Port Augusta.

Fifty homes would be for the homeless, co-located tenants with support services including medical, dental and mental health care.

A further 350 currently vacant houses would be upgraded and 3000 more public homes improved through a maintenance blitz.

The policy, billed as a construction “blitz” that would keep stimulating the building industry as the federal Home Builder scheme winds down, would cost $181.65m over four years.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas said every South Australian deserved to have “a roof over their head and a place to call home”.

“Labor will invest in building new homes and bringing current homes up to scratch to supply more public housing for South Australians most in need,” he said.

“Importantly, this investment will also support South Australian jobs right across the state. Our plan will also end the waste of 350 homes sitting empty when there is high demand.

Opposition leader Peter Malinauskas with the shawdow spokeswoman for Human Services Nat Cook and the member for Cheltenham Joe Szakacs at today’s announcement at Queenstown. March 12, 2022 Picture: Brenton Edwards

“Thousands of local construction jobs will be directly created and supported as well as many thousands more indirect jobs”.

Labor’s human services spokeswoman Nat Cook said: “For elderly people and people with a disability living on their own, we will provide smaller homes that are energy efficient to better match needs and reduce energy bills”.

She said the part of the package for homeless people would help provide them with “long-term stability”.

Treasurer Rob Lucas responded to Labor’s pledge by comparing Mr Malinauskas’s spending habits to those of Kim Kardashian.

“Mr Malinauskas is racking up a pre-election spending bill so large and so ludicrous ... it should terrify every family and business owner who will ultimately have to suffer the consequences,” he said.

“In fact, this is the type of spending frenzy that would even make Kim Kardashian blush.”

But Premier Steven Marshall boasted his government spent about as much on public housing in one year alone.

“$181m over four years? We spent $168m last year so this doesn’t really seem to touch the sides,” he said.